Summary

• David Duchovny's Fox Mulder was a key factor in The X-Files' success, and his departure from the series in Season 7 disappointed fans.
• Duchovny left due to contract issues and a desire to act in other works.
• Duchovny eventually returned to the series for the films and two revival seasons, and he has had a strong career outside the X-Files franchise as well.

David Duchovny rose to stardom as maverick FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on the hit science-fiction series The X-Files. Created by Chris Carter, the show originally aired on Fox from 1993 to 2002, for nine seasons and a total of 202 episodes, plus two feature films. However, Duchovny's Mulder literally disappeared in Season 7, puzzling and disappointing fans. Charming and determined to uncover the truth, no matter the cost, Mulder was the heart of The X-Files — with his skeptical partner Dana Scully played by the inimitable Gillian Anderson. Although they frequently didn't see eye to eye, there was no denying the respect each agent had for the other, nor the chemistry the two actors shared. Much of the plot, centered on alien abductions and supernatural events, is connected to Mulder and his quest to uncover the mysteries surrounding his sister's disappearance. As such, Duchovny's performance played a huge role in The X-Files — and fans were understandably shocked when the actor left as a series regular at the end of Season 7.

It seems inconceivable in hindsight that he would depart in the first place. Fox Mulder was an iconic television character. He was heroic and charming, while also being mysterious and strange. The X-Files was part of the rare group of television shows that produced a feature film while the shows were still on television. In the 1990s, there were few hits like The X-Files, so when David Duchovny left the series' fans expected the series to falter. And while he himself went on to a long and diverse career, Fox Mulder remains his signature role. So, what happened to make its star leave? His reasons for doing so were straightforward and well-founded. Unfortunately, the same dynamic in Hollywood labor is still playing out today.

Updated on May 2, 2024, by Ajay Aravind: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were the television dream team until their characters were torn apart, haphazardly and without any consideration for the fandom. David Duchovny would reprise his role in Seasons 10 and 11, but The X-Files was never the same again. With the rumors of a reboot looming on the horizon, fans want to know if they're going to see their favorite characters once again. As such, we've updated this article with some more relevant information.

What Happened to Mulder in Seasons 8 and 9?

Aliens abducted Mulder in the Season 7 finale "Requiem," and Robert Patrick's character John Doggett was introduced as Scully's new partner. The first half of Season 8 followed Scully and Doggett as they tried to find Mulder. After his abduction, Mulder's body mysteriously appeared in a forest. Three months later, he was mysteriously resurrected, and Scully supervised his return to full health. Against orders, Mulder resumed working on the weirder X-Files cases until he was fired from the FBI, although he continued consulting on cases in an unofficial capacity.

While the storytellers did the best they could with the situation, many of the fans who loved the characters were frustrated by Fox Mulder's absence. Doggett was fine, and Patrick brought a practicality to the character that let Scully be the believer and her partner the skeptic for a change. Nevertheless, they couldn't recapture the singular chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson — still one of the greatest partnerships in TV history — and the quality of the series took a step down. It never truly recovered, even after Duchovny's return.

Duchovny appeared in only half of Season 8. While the season received mostly positive reviews, some fans criticized Mulder's reduced role. This was in large part due to seeing his forced absences as contrivances to make up for the actor's limited availability. While Doggett eventually became popular among viewers, they felt he couldn't fill the void left by Mulder's absence, especially since Mulder and Scully were finally romantically involved. The show dubiously sent Mulder into hiding after Scully gave birth at the end of Season 8. He didn't reappear until the (first) series finale in Season 9, "The Truth."

David Duchovny's Legal Dispute With 20th Century Fox

Unfortunately, the business of Hollywood got in the way of the show. David Duchovny left The X-Files because his contract ended following Season 7. "As much as I love the show, I think for me this will be the end," Duchovny said at the time of his departure in an interview with International Business Times before the first revival season. "I always thought five years was enough. Seven years is definitely enough." Except it wasn't enough, since he returned first for 2008's The X-Files: I Want to Believe and the two revival seasons in 2016 and 2018. Making 22-26 episodes of network television per year is difficult; however both the films and the 10th and 11th seasons represented a smaller time investment. Plus, after some years and distance from the character, it's not surprising Duchovny would want to revisit the role of his most famous character.

However, the actor also accused 20th Century Fox of cheating him out of millions of dollars from The X-Files' syndication profits. In 1999, while the series was airing its seventh season, Duchovny filed suit against Fox and claimed to be a victim of "corporate synergy." He alleged that the company purposefully undersold The X-Files' rights and reruns to cable networks and book publisher HarperCollins, thus reducing his (and likely his fellow castmates') royalties. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 1999, he said, "I'm not looking to win the lottery. I've fulfilled my contract, and I want them to fulfill theirs."

Again sharing connective tissue with Star Trek, Spock actor Leonard Nimoy almost didn't return for the film series over disputes about his royalties from merchandising and the rights to his likeness. He drew criticism from some corners at the time, who accused him of undue greed in light of his success in the role. The recent labor strikes in Hollywood paint his efforts in a far different light, and while he was certainly a high-end example, studios clearly have a long history of not paying their fair share of the profits.

Duchovny and Fox settled the case out of court in 2000. The X-Files was successfully revived in 2016 for Season 10, with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their roles as Mulder and Scully. But the show's second run was much shorter — it ended in 2018 after Season 11. Reaction to the series' revival was mixed. Fans had come to expect a great deal from the series, as it had previously featured classic Monster-of-the-Week episodes, like "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster," and one of the show's most hilarious episodes, "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." While not every X-Files episode was a hit with the fans, there were plenty of loyalists who loved both the Monster-of-the-Weeks and the deep lore episodes that explored Mulder's connection to an otherworldly experiment perpetrated by the government. In fact, the series finale, which finally revisited the issue of their son William, was widely panned by the fanbase, despite many wanting to know what happened.

Where Is David Duchovny Now?